Shades of Grey
by Apricot-Angel
Summary: He was the kind of person you’d just assume was bad. But if you squint really hard, sometimes small, unassuming glints of goodness would shine through...SOMETIMES. Elena/Damon.


**Honestly, I never thought I'd find myself writing a Vampire Diaries one-shot. I mean, c'mon. Vampire Diaries? It's so...**_**mainstream**_**. Haha, but ever since I gave this show a chance, I'd been instantly hooked. I love it! But personally, I'm more for Team Stefan, but there's something about the interplay between Elena and Damon that intrigues me...So much chemistry! So with that being said, you could probably consider this as more of a friendshipping fic. Well, depends on how you look at it. Enjoy! **

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_Dear diary,_

_There are some people in this world that are just so inexplicably hard to describe. In storybooks and fairytales, you can always tell who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. But life isn't like that. People aren't always assigned to a single world of darkness or light- often you'd find a particular individual who liked to mingle in both worlds, the kind of person who was somehow good and bad at the same time..._

Elena Gilbert, in all honestly, looked absolutely atrocious that day. Although she was not the type to doll herself up for school, that day her unsightly appearance had glared out among the throng of students as she paced hastily towards the school building.

Due to some unknown cause, she had barely slept during the night, almost to the point that it reminded her of the perpetuating nights of insomnia during the time of her parents' ill-fated tragedy. And as a consequence of her all-nighter, Elena scarcely had enough time to checklist her usual school morning ritual. She had dashed off to school in a hurry, driving recklessly (and uncharacteristically) fast to find students were already flocking off to the main school entrance.

"Damn, missed him! Stefan must've been waiting there for ages..." Elena muttered, observing the absence of the eternal male youth by the tree they had designated to meet each other.

She heaved an exhausted sigh, stepping out of her vehicle and quickly strolled forth in an attempt to make it into class before the bell rung. She'd tried to ignore the stunned gawkers that scrutinised her dishevelled appearance, despite the fact she knew her unruly hair, unkempt clothing and ashen-looking skin would probably make her stare as well.

Elena leapt up the stairs, when suddenly she halted, remembering she'd left her math book at home. Her internal debate to go back for it was abruptly cut short, as the old school bell echoed throughout the direct vicinity. The loud ringing noise startled Elena, causing her drop her books onto the steps as she let out a frustrated groan. She sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears as she knelt down to gather her books. As she collected her books into a neat pile, Elena suddenly heard a short, sharp whistling sound invade her field of hearing. The brunette looked over her shoulder towards the source and groaned to herself.

There, leaning casually against an aging oak tree was Damon Salvatore, probably looking smug as usual- Elena couldn't tell from such a distance. The schoolgirl contemplated ignoring the frustratingly arrogant vampire, for she was already running late as it was. However, Elena's decision to disregard Damon's existence was never fulfilled, as within the blink of an eye, the vampire was suddenly found beside her, stretched out lazily along the stone steps with a tranquil smile on his face.

_How he could possibly be related to Stefan Salvatore was completely beyond me. From an external view, you'd see he was the "bad guy", the evil brother of the two. I wish I could see it like that. But ever since I've crossed paths with the two Salvatore brothers, I realised sometimes it was better not to know everything. In other words, ignorance is bliss. Because with knowledge, comes complications. And Damon was one _big_ complication._

"What do you want?" Elena asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," the vampire commented, suddenly noticing Elena's dreadful appearance. "Oh wait, you_ didn't_ sleep. Ha-ha, how ironic,"

She glared at him venomously, as he laughed heartily at his own joke. Damon stopped laughing, as if only just then he'd discovered Elena's displeased countenance.

"Wow. Someone's definitely not happy today,"

"What was your first clue?" snapped Elena, as she scooped up her books. "Now if you don't mind, I have to get to school, you should leave."

"School? You'll be lucky to learn_ anything _today in that foul mood of yours."

Elena gave a wry smile in response. "Oh? And what do you propose I do? Go back to _sleep_? Please."

"You could just ditch school. And hang out with me," he smiled playfully, resting his hand on his chin.

Elena scoffed. "Play hooky to hang around _you_? I'd rather swallow I plague rat!"

He snorted, shrugging his shoulders offhandedly and he lay back against the stairs. "Of course, now I see why you and Stefan are so compatible. Talk about straight edge- you'd _never_ ditch."

Elena said nothing, simply narrowing her eyes as she watched Damon stand up and slowly descend the steps.

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me, y'know by the ri-"

"The river, I know," she finished for him. Within a flash, Damon vanished, leaving Elena alone to consider her thoughts. She had to admit, school didn't sound all that appealing to her now. And returning home with no legitimate excuse was out of the question. So what was stopping her from ditching? Was she really that clean-cut?

In the back of her mind, Elena knew she would be venturing upon something seriously irresponsible and, to a certain extent, something dangerous. However, her brain was functioning on virtually thirty minutes of sleep and frankly she didn't care for responsibilities or rational thinking today.

She quickly left the school grounds, venturing amongst the raw, untouched natural beauty that Mystic Falls typified, admiring the forest scenery around her. She easily spotted Damon by the riverside bank, his eyes glued to the morning horizon as she approached him quietly. She knew he'd already detected her presence, yet she still decided to creep quietly towards him and surprise him by suddenly dumping all her school books on the ground next to him. He showed no sign of shock to the abrupt noise- he simply stared up at her questionably.

"Guess I'm not as straight edge as you thought," Elena commented, sitting down on the cool grass beside him.

"Hm, I almost didn't think you had it in you to ditch school. Oh, now won't _Stefan _be disappointed in you..." It almost amused Elena to hear Damon feign feelings of concern over her relationship with Stefan.

"Hah, I don't think I'm exactly in Stefan's good books at the moment. I stood him up when we were supposed to meet up before school today-" Elena paused suddenly, surprised with herself, with what information she was revealing to Damon. Although her mind wasn't quite present that day, she still had to instill the common sense that Damon wasn't to be trusted whatsoever, no matter how easy it was to talk to him.

"Tsk, tsk. Elena Gilbert, you're a bad girlfriend." chided Damon.

"Damon Salvatore, you're a bad _person_," retorted Elena.

"Touché," the vampire replied, "Well, now that you've finally seen the light and have realised how useless school is, it's time we got rid of these," With lightening speed, Damon grabbed one of Elena's text books and tossed it carelessly into the flowing water.

Elena gasped in horror as the thick book was quickly consumed by the rushing water. "My Biochemistry textbook! It's-"

"Gone forever! I know, no need to thank me," the vampire chuckled darkly, dusting his hands off as if he'd completed a burdening task.

The teenage brunette grew furious with the elder Salvatore brother, yet she knew she had no chance of pushing _him_ into that river, as she desired to. So instead, she opted for the next best thing- she swiped one of his leather shoes when his guard was let down and threw it into the depths of the river.

Upon hearing the 'plonking' sound of his shoe splashing into the water, Damon's melodious laughter ceased. He stared out into the water momentarily; then to his shoeless foot and then to Elena. He stared intensely into her eyes, triggering a strange crawling sensation all over her skin. Yet tried as she might, Elena couldn't tear her eyes away from their strong connection with Damon's impossibly blue eyes.

"You threw my shoe," His eyes continued to mesmerise Elena's, keeping her locked in by some unknown emotional hypnosis, despite the sprigs of vervain being contained safely inside her necklace.

Elena breathed deeply in, finally coming to her senses as she looked away from him. "Well, you threw my textbook!"

She stifled a gasp when suddenly Damon grabbed her elbow and tugged her towards him, forcing her to look at his face.

"You threw my shoe in the river," he growled. "That was my favourite pair. My_ Bontoni_ handmade Italian shoes! _You just threw it_!" His lax countenance had suddenly melted into an enraged one, his brow furrowing deeply as several muscles of his face twitched with rage. Fear had immobilised Elena's ability to breath, as she easily envisioned Damon parting his lips to bear his menacing vampire fangs.

His eyes ravenously scrutinised the terror displayed on Elena's face, her body beginning to quiver with fear and regret. Oh, _why_ did she leave the safety of the school and openly welcomed danger in the lone presence of Damon? Was she so naive to believe that Damon would not harm her?

The male vampire observed her face intensely, soaking in every minor detail from her quivering lips to her wrinkled little nose. Her paling skin. Her eyes twinkling with fear, mirroring his tragic reflection. He stared silently at his own reflection in her deep brown eyes, where finally he was able to catch glimpse of how she perceived him.

He was a monster.

The conflicted vampire heaved an exasperated sigh, releasing her arm from his grasp. He swallowed a burdening lump in his throat with much effort, staring down by the side of his shoeless foot as he pitifully muttered, "I'm sorry, Elena. That was out-of-line. I'll get you a new textbook..."

She stared at him incredulously. Was he for real? One second he was completely enraged and now he'd suddenly become mellow and apologetic? Elena had to wonder whether vampires truly had such horrid mood swings. That, or Damon was simply bi-polar.

"...Well, I best be off. See you around Elena,"

She blinked disbelievingly. "Wait. Where are you...?"

"Top secret vampire plans of course. _Duh_," he responded sarcastically, as he flashed a mischievous smile. "Go home Elena. Make yourself look beautiful, not that you aren't _always_,"

He winked playfully at her and with that he quickly vanished with a rush of air, in harmony with the rhythm of the gentle wind. Elena stared vacantly at the spot Damon had once been standing, silently smiling to herself. He was definitely something, that vampire.

_He was __truly __indescribable, like ripples on the water. The fact that he never voiced the inner workings of his mind to anyone was perhaps what made him so mysterious. I suppose that was also why he was automatically assumed to be bad news. But I knew better, for the little snippets that Damon had accidentally revealed of himself led me to believe otherwise. Although conflicted, Damon just couldn't be _completely _evil, even though he often went out of his way to prove this to be untrue..._

Elena sighed, running a hand through her long dark tresses when suddenly she noticed something floating gloomily on its own by the river bank. Elena reached over and inspected it, discovering it was Damon's treasured Italian shoe, so she fished it out of the water. She shook the water out of the shoe carelessly, staring at the soaked, miserable thing. The shoe sure was ugly, Elena discovered. So why was it so important to Damon?

Upon closer examination, Elena realised why the shoe had looked so strangely familiar to her. She'd also realised then why Damon had so easily brushed off losing the shoe to the river.

It wasn't his.

"Stefan's not going to be happy when he finds out what happened to his Bontoni shoe..." Elena sighed, unable to stop an amused smile playing at her lips.

_Stefan sure has his work cut out for him, dealing with a brother like Damon. He was definitely someone you had to keep a very close eye on, someone you'd never know which way they'd swing next. After all, Damon just wasn't one hundred percent good or evil: he was both black and white, and all shades of grey included. _

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**Thanks for reading! I'm sorry if it sounds kind of rushed or too snippy with the blend of narrative and diary entry. Not too sure if it achieved the feel I was setting out to create, but whatever. I tried. Feedback would be much appreciated! xx**


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